Nae Barr’s Irn-Bru whit ye’re oan aboot

Abstract

Even the most cursory browse through any slang dictionary will immediately reveal that rhyming slang is a highly productive category of word-formation in contemporary British and Australian English. However, because of the inextricable difficulty in tracking what is essentially an oral (and often improvisational) phenomenon, dictionaries have typically overlooked rhyming slang items whose use is restricted to specific geographical areas, especially in Ireland and Scotland. Conceived as a sequel and companion piece to a previous study on Scottish rhyming slang by this author (Lillo 2004b), this article examines the way rhyming slang has thrived in Scotland over the past few years, thereby providing interesting insights into its role in the articulation of Scottish identity and its spread and growth around the anglophone world. While Scottish rhyming slang shows largely the same morphological characteristics as other rhyming slangs, its home-grown flavour is apparent in a significant proportion of its repertoire, which serves as a real marker of national identity and pride among Scots. The final section of the article presents a glossary of Scottish rhyming slang made up for the most part of previously unrecorded items collected by the author.